Scenes of anguish have become part of daily life around Omonia Square in Athens, as Greece’s multiple woes have turned the vibrant commercial heart of this Mediterranean capital into a national symbol of despair and social collapse. Gordon Fairclough reports on WSJ.com.

All photographs by Francesco Anselmi/Contraso/Redux Pictures.

The sprawling Greek capital, Athens, is home to nearly half the crisis-hit country’s population.

Central Omonia Square, once the vibrant commercial heart of Athens, has become a symbol of despair and social collapse. The square and surrounding neighborhoods have been ravaged by Greece’s deep economic downturn and a ﬂood of illegal immigrants.

With unemployment spiking, especially among people under 25, the number of homeless youth is on the rise.

With business and tourism in decline, drug use and prostitution are ﬂourishing in an area that was once considered the crossroads of Athens.

Police, often young recruits fresh from the police academy, struggle to control crime and clamp down on drug trafﬁcking.

Addicts injecting heroin and other drugs have become a common sight on streets and in alleys around the square.

Budget cuts have undercut the government’s ability to care for people in need. The homeless sleep on the street and line up for food at an outdoor soup kitchen.

This Romanian woman, known as Amalia to drug-abuse outreach workers, died of an apparent blood infection soon after this photo was taken in an empty lot near the square this autumn.

Paramedics put Amalia into an ambulance.

A couple embrace at night in Omonia Square.

Bangladeshi men, part of a massive wave of migration into Greece from Africa and South Asia, meet at an Indian restaurant.

Gangs of neo-Nazis attack and intimidate migrants. Here, a Bangladeshi man shows an ultranationalist emblem spray-painted on his door.

Trafﬁckers often hide heroin and other drugs, packed in small spherical packets, in their mouths to avoid detection.

Police ofﬁcers confront a man they searched with what they said were drugs found on his body.

Comments (5 of 16)

Greece's migration issues are due to a combination of unjust EU policies that tie her hands in taking hard action against them (such as detention centres in the UK), as well as the state's weak capabilities and inexistent capacities to protect the borders.

Omonia square has been a junkie center way before the crisis - Athenians know this. Before the illegal immigrants it was plagued by greek junkies - and the reason omonia has emptied out despite the rise of homelessness and illegal immigration, is because the 'periphery' have expanded - the unfortunate people have moved up, down, left and right all over the center of the city. The only streets that remain 'clean' are the uptown ones which are filled with embassies and the residences of politicians.

It is a comedy and a tragedy.

and, as david wrote, these are the outcomes of decades of liberal capitalism... and GREED.

3:19 am January 15, 2013

David wrote:

It is capitalism you idiot!!!!

11:01 pm January 14, 2013

Nellie wrote:

You can find this in any country especially in the U.S.A in low income areas where there is gangs and drugs. We need to close our borders to illegals, refugees and drugs. We can't save the world when we can't control what is going on in our own country.

11:01 am January 14, 2013

MOSCOW GIRL wrote:

I could take the same pics or even worse in London or Dublin! I go to Athens twice a year for my holidays and I feel very safe there! Most of the places in Athens are extremely safe, unless you go and joying the demonstration or if you really look for troubles you will find them anywhere!

11:00 am January 14, 2013

MOSCOW GIRL wrote:

I could take the same pics or even worth in London or Dublin! I go to Athens twice a year for my holidays and I feel very safe there! Most of the places in Athens are extremely safe, unless you go and joying the demonstration or if you really look for troubles you will find them anywhere!